Published 2 years ago
by
Andrew Dyce
, Updated December 20th, 2012 at 1:12 pm,

While Robert Downey, Jr. put on a British accent to play the world’s most legendary detective, BBC’s Sherlock did things differently. Pairing Brits Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson, respectively, the minds behind Doctor Who crafted two seasons of arguably the best incarnation of the characters we’ve seen.

Since then, fate has smiled on both: with Cumberbatch turning in a performance as the villain of Star Trek Into Darkness (already winning the highest praise from his cast members) and Freeman starring in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy as the titular halfling (alongside Cumberbatch’s Smaug, no less). So what does that success mean for the fate of Sherlock?

Concerns are easy to understand, since Cumberbatch is already gaining more attention stateside as mysterious villain ‘John Harrison,’ and Freeman seems bound to enjoy as much success as any of the cast of Jackson’s LotR trilogy. It’s perhaps a bittersweet turn of events, since the early success of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ contemporary re-imagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories was due largely to the sterling performances of (now Golden Globe-nominated) Cumberbatch and Freeman – performances now possibly throwing future seasons into question.

In a twist that is sure to make fans of BBC and detective stories relieved, Cumberbatch was asked in an interview with Yahoo UK if the pair’s big screen success meant that the need for Sherlock was suddenly an afterthought.

His response? “Absolutely not”:

“I don’t think that’s a possibility because I love it too much. Making [Sherlock] is all about availability. Martin Freeman has the same kind of pressures on him now. It’s a thing of quality not quantity that show – thank God. We started young with it. We started when they meet and we still are young for those roles. There’s no reason why it can’t continue until we get too old.”

As the world breathes a sigh of relief, we’re suddenly a little bit less frustrated that Sherlock is limited to only three episodes a year – the quality over quantity Cumberbatch alludes to. Nevertheless, Cumberbatch’s comments seem somewhat at odds with the expectations for Sherlock’s season three stories – now pushed back as far as 2014.

The three episode titles released for the upcoming season point quite clearly to existing Sherlock Holmes’ stories, including “His Last Bow”: chronologically the last Holmes mystery Conan Doyle wrote. Moffat had previously claimed he was at least flirting with the idea of crafting new mysteries for a somewhat older Holmes and Watson to tackle, but wasn’t setting anything in stone. The implied ending to season three of Sherlock coincided well with the rising stars of both Cumberbatch and Freeman, but the latest word from the leading man throws all of that into question.

At this point it’s impossible to know how the success of both franchises will impact the job offerings each actor will or will not accept. As far as we know a Doctor Who crossover is still a possibility, so who knows what the future might hold for both series.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed that Sherlock has a long life ahead of it; if not in consecutive seasons, then perhaps Moffat will get his wish of revisiting the characters later in life once all the fervor has died down. Needless to say, we’ll keep you updated.

While Doctor Who is starting to become a bit of a letdown, it’s still very good, but could be so much better if they kept the mythology plots going and went to a few more planets other than earth all the time.

Sherlock is just plain flawless, the only thing I could say is that they try some of their own stories, but i’m happy for them to run with all of them and then try their own.

There’s no need for a cross-over and doing so will just cheapen them, it just feels like the beginning of the end if they sellout either franchise to the whims of fanboys who don’t know any better.

I disagree that a crossover would cheapen the shows but it would have to be with Sherlock appearing on Dr Who. The structure of Dr Who has a lot more latitude to allow such a crossover whereas Sherlock does not.

I agree completely, while I have written many crossovers between the two shows, nearly all of them in the Sherlock-verse this is only possible due to a project in the “real world” causing a nesting doll effect in the Multiverse. (In short, everything that happens in the stories shouldn’t have happened. At all, like, ever.)
Yes. It sounds crazy, but so does Doctor Who.
P.S. feel free to ask me more about this, I don’t get to share my ideas all that much.

Star Trek rules, The Hobbit rules, Sherlock rules, Cumberbatch rules, Freeman rules… PS there may be only three episodes but they are 90 minutes long which is a nice running span for such a quality programme. More Cumberbatch and Freeman please!

I don’t think that’s a possibility because I love it too much. Making [Sherlock] is all about availability. Martin Freeman has the same kind of pressures on him now. It’s a thing of quality not quantity that show – thank God. We started young with it. We started when they meet and we still are young for…

I could see the Sherlock shows becoming a classic just as Dr. Who has become. I, along with all the other fans, will keep Sherlock Holmes alive for future generations and hope that these two will continue making the Sherlock series so my children can grow up on it and experience it with me.

How much fun would it be to have a Sherlock Christmas special on Christmas Eve night to sit down with the family and watch. They could begin with “The Blue Carbuncle.”

Doctor Who X Sherlock? Yeah, how about NO. Seriously, even though these shows are run by the same guys/team, hopefully crossover is way out the window. The two shows don’t have any basic premise in common and believe me, the final product won’t sit well with either show’s fan base. Let’s stick two uncommon shows crossover with the fanfiction writers, shall we? I mean, it might not be so bad, but who can tell if it won’t be a disaster?

The story structure of Dr Who could accomodate a crossover from Sherlock. Heck if they really wanted to they could set it in orginal time setting for Sherlock Holmes (or maybe take Sherlock and Watson from our time and have them solve a mystery with the Doctor set in historic London). Now I would argue a crossover with the Doctor on Sherlock wouldn’t work due the nature and length of the show.

As for if it will be good? It could be, it could be horrible but hey nothing venture, nothing gained. At worst people will hate it and pretend it never happened but on the other hand it could be awesome.

About 90% sure they will end it after either series 3 or series 4. Its a good series but Moriarty is dead and the Reichenbach fall episode has been done. The only villain who is good enough other than Moriarty is his apprentice Sebastian Moran – who is pretty much defeated in ‘The Adventures of the Empty House’

“Mark Gatiss, the co-creator of the modern day adaptation series Sherlock, has announced that the first episode of the show’s third series will be based on “The Adventures of The Empty House”.”

They are simply running out of main villains. Unless they start making up villains or emphasise the villains in stories then they can never have a dramtic ending/cliffhanger again considering all the stories pretty much resolve themself in the space of an episode.

Moriarty was hardly the only villain in Conan Doyle’s writings. I am about 1/3 of the way through his complete works and not even a mention of JM yet. Besides, Moffatt and Gatiss have done brilliant adaptations, and they have a lot of material to work with.